First Bus appoint new Head of Operational Excellence
- Appointment to new role as Head of Operational Excellence
- New hire will collaborate with LBUs and Head of Engineering Excellence with purpose of improving customer experience
First Bus have now appointed Simon Mathieson into a new role as the Head of Operational Excellence, with effect from February 6th 2023.
Simon has a successful track record of twenty years’ experience delivering performance and cultural improvements in the bus industry across several different roles.
He joins First Bus from his latest position as Area Operations Director for Arriva UK Bus, following a career spanning roles from Operations Manager to Operations Director and then Managing Director.
Simon has previously worked at Stagecoach and National Express before his most recent role at Arriva and brings with him a wealth of bus industry knowledge.
He will report into Andrew Jarvis, the Chief Operating Officer for First Bus UK, and will also work closely with the Head of Engineering Excellence, Tony Cockcroft.
Andrew Jarvis, Chief Operating Officer, First Bus UK said: "I am delighted to appoint Simon into this new pivotal role that will see him supporting our six Local Business Units (LBUs) on all operational matters. Simon will collaborate with Senior Leadership Teams and depot Management Teams in each of our regions to ensure they are best positioned to deliver exceptional customer experience."
Simon Mathieson said: "I’m really excited to be joining the First Bus team. I am keen to get started by working with the business to further develop our operational excellence capability and deliver high levels of customer satisfaction together.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
First Bus
First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. Making journeys easier for our customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept contactless card payments across all of our services and our First Bus App is voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators. Our most recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our key networks.
We work proactively with our local authority partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling congestion and improving customer experience. We are focused on First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future and are committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035; we have pledged not to purchase any new diesel buses after December 2022. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland. First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
For more information on First Bus: https://news.firstbus.co.uk/